Aphasia: quarrels.

Quarrels over aphasia are no recent phenomena and have not always been expl icit. Lordat and Gall can be cited in this respect as well as Dax and Bouil laud. Reference is also made to Broca-Dax and Trousseau-Lordat. The creatio n of the Chair in honour of Charcot, which contributed so greatly (thanks t o Charcot himself, the others Masters and their students) to the birth of n eurology, then to that of the neurological sciences and eventually to that of the neurocognitive sciences. Next, the most explicit of quarrels on apha sia is dealt with, namely that in which, during three meetings of the Frenc h Society of Neurology in 1908, Joseph Jules Dejerine and Pierre Marie cros sed swords. Their duel in the Bois de Boulogne in 1893 having fortunately b een cancelled, it was in 1908 merely a battle of words. Fulgence Raymond wa s soon to retire. Dejerine and Pierre Marie each put forward their proposal to the Society for a discussion program and Dejerine's was accepted follow ing a vote. The meeting on 11(th) June, in accordance with the program prop osed by Dejerine, was largely restricted to clinical facts. Fulgence Raymon d was not present. Dejerine always spoke first, but some of the replies fro m Pierre Marie received a degree of approval frome the audience. It was dur ing this meeting that Achille Souques, the future founder of the history of neurology, cleverly defended the ideas of Pierre Marie. A little later Dej erine went on the defensive and agreed to a change in the program along the lines suggested by Pierre Marie: he then presented his ideas on the manife st clinical difference between Broca's aphasia and that of Wernicke. After Souques, Edouard Brissaud also came to the rescue of Pierre Marie by mentio ning the Leborgne case published by Broca in the spring 1861. Matters were unresolved and Andre-Thomas, the future founder of neuropaediatrics, produc ed a highly intelligent deference of his Master Dejerine. Gilbert Ballet an d Ernest Dupre also came down largely on his side. The meeting of 9(th) Jul y (27(th) anniversary of the Charcot Chair) was dedicated to cerebral anato my and the "quadrilateral": The subject of Dejerine's questionnaire was aga in raised. Accompanied by Georges Guillain, Fulgence Raymond was present on this occasion (but refrained from speaking). This time the star was August a Dejerine Klumpke, born on a Spanish sand dune now known as San Francisco, U.S.A. Mrs Dejerine contested the "lenticular zone" and gave it a quite di fferent dimension by proving that its anterodorsal part included associativ e axons originating in or projecting to Broca's area, the remainder of the "Pierre Marie quadrilateral" being called into question. Brissaud was impressed by the performance of Madame Dejerine, and Pierre Ma rie found himself in an awkward position. His student Francois Moutier, pre sent at his request, discussed his own clinical cases and then, on the subj ect of "Lelong's" brain' (autumn 1861), let it be known that Broca had scra tched ii with his finger nails while removing the meninges. Andre-Thomas an d Georges Guillain took part in the discussion. At the last meeting, on 23( rd) July Brissaud was absent. Fulgence Raymond was again present but remain ed silent. The only subject on the agenda was "physiological pathology", bu t several points that had not been resolved on the 9(th) July were brought up again. On this occasion, Pierre Marie opened the debate and adopted a ve ry cautious approach. However, his patience eventually ran out and he repli ed sharply to the comments of Dejerine on "images of language" and those of Dupre on "mental representations". Metaphorically speaking, it might be said that the gold medal was not award ed, Augusta Dejerine Klumpke took the silver, Dupre and Andre-Thomas shared the bronze. and Souques and Moutier each deserved a special mention. It mi ght also be suggested that in 1908 the Society sketched out to a large exte nt the programme for research on aphasia for the century to come. With the retirement of Fulgence Raymond, Charcot's Chair fell to Dejerine the follow ing year, then to Pierre Marie on the death of the third holder in 1917. Ma dame Dejerine was then obliged to leave the Salpetriere.